


Getting There

by koanju (verstehen)



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: Gen, Revolution 1x04, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-16 03:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verstehen/pseuds/koanju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So when she got control of herself, scrubbing the tears out of her face and tearing herself away from the man she couldn’t decide was going to get them all killed or save her brother, she started looking around the diner for something to dig with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting There

Charlie wouldn’t leave until they’d buried Maggie. It wasn’t right that the woman who’d done so much for their town, and her brother, and her dad just died because of some lonely psycho in the middle of a broken down amusement park staring at a pink phone like it could save her. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair and that was all Charlie could think as she sobbed next to Maggie’s body in Miles’s arms. So when she got control of herself, scrubbing the tears out of her face and tearing herself away from the man she couldn’t decide was going to get them all killed or save her brother, she started looking around the diner for something to dig with. When Nora had asked what Charlie was doing, she’d simply said, “We’re burying her like she deserves." 

And even when Miles had looked impatiently at her, Aaron and Nora backed her up. Charlie could understand the impatience, the longer they stayed the less chance they had of getting to her brother.

So they buried her under a small tree, with the phone and Charlie had stuffed the blood-stained copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in her own bag. She’d give it to Danny when they got him back.

When they started walking, Miles pushing ‘Nate’ along in front of him, Charlie debated her options: confronting Miles or confronting Nate. Frankly, she didn’t want to do either one but –

She turned to Nate. “Tell me about Captain Neville,” she demanded, ignoring the stare Miles was giving her as she did it. Nate shrugged and didn’t say anything. “Are you stupid?” she asked. “You do realize what will happen to you if you don’t tell us what we want to know.”

Nate gave her a slow smile. “You won’t let that happen. You didn’t with the bounty hunter and you didn’t with me.”

Charlie lets the memories of all the things her mother had done to keep them safe in the early days – that her father just couldn’t do – and the expression on her face that Charlie only now understands was half-horror and half-resolution, thinks of Maggie’s flask of poison, and thinks of the things Charlie has seen and done herself to get to Miles, to get to Danny flow through her and hopes that maybe some of that expression – something of her mother, half-horror and half-resolve – shows in her face. She leans into Nate’s space, looking him directly in the eyes. “He’s my brother. I’d do anything to get him back safe.”

Nate flinches back and looks away, toward Miles and his own stone-face. “He’s smart and loyal. Neville protects his men as much as he can and they respect him in turn.”

“How many?” Charlie snaps, not wanting to waste Nate’s willingness to talk.

He shrugs. “A company usually has fifty men. I don’t know how many might be left.”

Charlie looks at her uncle, the man who apparently founded the militia for confirmation and he nods once. “Why would they be going to Noblesville?”

“Fastest transport to headquarters is there,” Nate said calmly and then looked at his feet. Charlie studied him for a few seconds before she realized that was all she was going to get out of him. Things they could have guessed with observation or already knew.

She tightened her lips and lengthened her stride, angry at the whole situation. If she’d been there, maybe her dad wouldn’t be dead. Maybe Danny would be safe and Maggie wouldn’t be dead because she’d been stupid enough to follow Charlie. Maggie was smart; she should have known better.

A hand dropped on her shoulder; Charlie shrugged it off. “I’m not going anywhere,” Miles told her again, softly. She didn’t bother to even answer that. It wasn’t like Miles hadn’t said it before and he couldn’t control the world around him, not all of it. Bad things happened, life wasn’t fair, and sometimes everything collapsed and they got one last chance to eat ice cream before it was all gone. Ice cream from snow just wasn’t the same and part of her wondered if it made her a terrible person for not liking it half because it was Maggie telling them how to make it during winter. “We’ll find your brother.”

“Why do you always do that?” she asked, glaring up at him as he walked beside her. “’Your brother,’ like he isn’t connected to you at all. Like he isn’t your blood.”

“You’re a lot like your mother,” Miles said quietly and that made her almost stumble. “She did what she had to, just like you do. Whether your dad liked it or not.”

“My dad’s dead. So’s my mom. Their opinions don’t matter.” She glanced down at Miles’s hip. “Teach me to use that.” If she made it a command, not a request, then he couldn’t deny her. 

Miles’s hand dipped to the handle of his sword. “Why?”

“Because _fifty_ men. Against three of us because Aaron is smart but he can’t fight and he can’t sneak anywhere. What we did at the prison camp won’t work again. I need more than just the bow.”

“We don’t know what will work until we get there and see the situation,” he told her. “So don’t worry about it. Concentrate on getting there.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing, Miles. So you want to help, you can teach me to fight better on the way. Either that or leave now; I’ll move faster alone.” It wasn’t a boast. Charlie was the best hunter the town had and for all that Miles was good at what he did – killing – he was older and it showed in his gait and the way he sometimes carelessly left a trail. “He’s my brother. My problem.”

Something she didn’t recognize slithered across Miles’s face and he told her, “You’re my family. That makes it my problem.” He set his hand on her shoulder and this time she didn’t push him away.


End file.
